Lifter's Lounge

(08-30-2014 10:51 AM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  When I lift, I rarely get soar, and when I do get soar it's not that bad. But I push myself to the max every time I work out. Am I doing something wrong? Should I be getting soar?

Depends on your exercises and your volume. Soreness is more of a volume than intensity thing imo. If you never get DOMS/soreness, then you could probably do more sets.

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Was enjoying myself on the leg press today. Apparently I did not keep the rear guard tight enough and out flew a trumpet of wind.

Carried on regardless.

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I just haven't really ever gotten soar. The very first time I worked out I was soar but after that nothing. I push it hard. Today I worked the shit out of my biceps, and guarantee I won't be soar tomorrow. For example, I started off curling 25 lbs and by the time I was finished I could barely curl 15. Maybe it is the sets, but I tend to do a pretty big work out. I usually do two muscles a day, 5 exercises for each muscle, and three sets of each, usually ten reps, sometimes I run out of juice towards the end of the workout and only push out 7 or 8 reps. I've been seeing great results though. I just started 5 weeks ago and I already have a six pack. I am a skinny guy, so it's been easy to see results. I've also been eating a shit load, and eating healthy as well. Working out really give you an appetite. I usually drink a protein drink within 30 minutes after working out. I'm really happy with my results thus far. I'm thinking in 2 months I should be right around where I want to be as far as my body goes.

Another question I had: is it very important to rest your muscles and to what extent. My buddy says he always rests his 1 to 2 days, and even says it's not good to do chest and tris one day and biceps and back the next because they are both upper body. Basically he says you should do 2 groups of upper body one day, legs the next, upper body next, and rest the next day. What do you guys think about that? Sometimes I'm so eager to get results I'm too impatient to wait for my muscles to heal, but my buddy who's been showing me how to lift says you'll get better results if you let your muscles heal.

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Playboy,

Depends entirely on how intensely you are working out each muscle group, the volume of each workout, etc. in whether or not you can workout the same muscles each day. Olympic lifters will do the same lift every day for months on end and make progress. You just have to be smart in having heavy/moderate/light days in terms of weight and volume. If you are pushing to maximal capacity each workout, then no, you cannot sustain that sort of frequency.

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I lost some strength this summer while in South America. Before I left I was doing 80 pound dumbbell for incline chest. Anymore than that and I get pain in my shoulders. Anyway I'm back down to 70s

My arms are noticeably smaller, at least to me. Golfers elbow is back too so I need to be careful.

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So it's not a good idea to do bicep and back and then do chest and tri the next day since they are both upper body. When I lift I basically push myself until I can't do anymore and lift as heavy as I can.

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(08-31-2014 08:34 PM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  So it's not a good idea to do bicep and back and then do chest and tri the next day since they are both upper body. When I lift I basically push myself until I can't do anymore and lift as heavy as I can.

If it is antagonist muscle groups you should be okay. So in this case do pulling one day, pushing the next. That's a pretty standard split.

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(08-31-2014 02:28 AM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  I just haven't really ever gotten soar. The very first time I worked out I was soar but after that nothing. I push it hard. Today I worked the shit out of my biceps, and guarantee I won't be soar tomorrow. For example, I started off curling 25 lbs and by the time I was finished I could barely curl 15. Maybe it is the sets, but I tend to do a pretty big work out. I usually do two muscles a day, 5 exercises for each muscle, and three sets of each, usually ten reps, sometimes I run out of juice towards the end of the workout and only push out 7 or 8 reps. I've been seeing great results though. I just started 5 weeks ago and I already have a six pack. I am a skinny guy, so it's been easy to see results. I've also been eating a shit load, and eating healthy as well. Working out really give you an appetite. I usually drink a protein drink within 30 minutes after working out. I'm really happy with my results thus far. I'm thinking in 2 months I should be right around where I want to be as far as my body goes.

Another question I had: is it very important to rest your muscles and to what extent. My buddy says he always rests his 1 to 2 days, and even says it's not good to do chest and tris one day and biceps and back the next because they are both upper body. Basically he says you should do 2 groups of upper body one day, legs the next, upper body next, and rest the next day. What do you guys think about that? Sometimes I'm so eager to get results I'm too impatient to wait for my muscles to heal, but my buddy who's been showing me how to lift says you'll get better results if you let your muscles heal.

I'd suggest working on your overall strength first. Only saying that because it sounds like you jumped into a bodybuilding split right away. For beginners and even a lot of naturals who are experienced, full body is the way to go. Lifting natural (assuming you are) is not like lifting on juice, cause you need higher frequency, where as someone on the juice can lift with much more intensity and will grow even with training a muscle once a week.

Most lifters recommend doing something like Stronglift 5x5 or Starting Strength for at least 6 months to get a good strength base and learn the compound lifts.

Just my opinion of course and I don't really subscribe to the idea you should squat heavy 3 times a week, 2 times is enough, but deadlifts with good form and overhead press are excellent mass builders in their own right. Pull up work the biceps too. If you do decide on Stronglift of Starting Strength I would just modify it a bit and don't do squats 3 times a week, instead put in some energy in the dips and pullups, since these two really help in upper body size if done correctly.

You say you're a skinny guy, so if you want to grow in size, compound lifts are probably the way to go in the beginning, since they stimulate test production and hgh more.

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Thanks for the advice. Another thing I'm noticing, especially when doing triceps and cheat is that I burn myself out on my first set. For example, I started out lift 45 lb dumbbells, moved up to 50, and today I tried 55. I got in 7 reps of 55 but then after that I was spent. The next set I couldn't even get up 8 reps of 45. By my 3rd set I could barely put up 35. I felt like a bitch. I'm thinking I should probably start off a little smaller right? I shouldn't be maxing out my first lift.

What are some other good excersices to built strength at the beginning?

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(09-01-2014 05:19 PM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  What are some other good excersices to built strength at the beginning?

The big compound movements: Deadlift, squat, overhead press, barbell bench press, pullups, dips.

Make sure you do them with low weight and good technique to begin with and don't overdo the squat part either.

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I'm doing all those plus a bunch of others. I guess I'm on the right track. I think I'm over doing it a bit though. I think I need to bring some of my weights down.

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Here's before and after. I've been doing the gym 5 weeks and maybe 3 weeks before that push ups and sit ups. I'm also running, swimming, and hiking for cardio.

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2/10 WNB

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You know you'd hit it

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(08-31-2014 02:28 AM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  I just haven't really ever gotten soar. The very first time I worked out I was soar but after that nothing. I push it hard. Today I worked the shit out of my biceps, and guarantee I won't be soar tomorrow.

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Another question I had: is it very important to rest your muscles and to what extent. My buddy says he always rests his 1 to 2 days, and even says it's not good to do chest and tris one day and biceps and back the next because they are both upper body. Basically he says you should do 2 groups of upper body one day, legs the next, upper body next, and rest the next day. What do you guys think about that? Sometimes I'm so eager to get results I'm too impatient to wait for my muscles to heal, but my buddy who's been showing me how to lift says you'll get better results if you let your muscles heal.

That happened to me for a while. After working out steady on the same regimen for month(s), your body becomes accustomed to it. I guarantee if you're doing hypertrophy and switch to strength or vice versa you will at least have some sort of soreness.

As for chest and back consecutive days... I do it and haven't had a problem so far. I "designed" a 3-day split for myself:

Day 1 - Legs
Day 2 - Chest
Day 3 - Back & Shoulders
Day 4 - Off

Focusing on heavy compound movements and some supplementary stuff. I haven't had a problem with strength. What I do is start off with 2 strength training compound movements like:

Strength:

Incline Bench - 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 95 (Dumbells for 3-5 reps each set)
Weighted Dips - 100lbs x 3/4 sets for 3-7 reps

Size:

Incline Bench - 60lb DB's for 3 sets of 8-12 with a drop set at the end
Bodyweight Dips - 3 sets to failure with the last set going until failure until I drop, resting for 1-5 seconds and repping out over and over until absolute failure.

I hit 365 deadlift today for 3 reps.. and 95lb DB's on incline bench for 3 reps yesterday. Overhead press is 80lb DB's for 3-8 reps and hit 180lbs for 4 reps on T-Bar rows today. Definitely not having a problem with strength so far. A year ago I could barely bench 180lb's on the barbell.. Now I could probably do 260 on incline. Admittedly it is my strong suit but if you follow a regimen like this I bet you will have success.

Remember that it's all mental. A year ago I was not only weak but extremely fat. I was 16 and 210lbs of fat at 5 foot 6. I dropped to 160 and am now at 190lbs 5 foot 10. I'm not that big by any means but have decent size.

The thing is I grunt, I smash my chest like a gorilla when I bench and I really go hard in all of my sets. It's my goal to be stronger every work out. The moment I let go of thinking I couldn't go heavier, stopped worrying about injuring myself and maybe snapping my shit up... I stepped my game up. My strength increased and I started making serious gains.

Bodybuilding and strength training are just as much mental as they are physical. I realize you didn't ask this question but I felt like posting my feelings here.

Just forget about what you THINK you can do.

"It's light weight baby!!!" Ronnie Coleman.

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Tried dirty bulking for the first time ever, and, surprisingly, it's one of the most effective things I've ever done for my strength and size. I was able to rep 285 on deadlift for 5 sets of 3(couldn't do that last week) and rep 325 on leg press for 3 sets of 10(same deal). I also gained six pounds, which is a big deal for me, since I'm an ectomorph with an extremely high metabolism. Amazing what a couple days of eating ice cream does for you.

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Not sure if I'll get in trouble for asking but here goes:

I've got a cycle of dbol (50mg/pill I think) about 63 of them, liver support, and aspartic acid.

Anyone know what's a good cycle (pill intake per week) to make this last ?

I've seen a few with a base 20MG per day for 4-6 weeks.

Has anyone cycled before ? Or suggest a cycle time ?

I've googled alot of bro science, not sure what to do.

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Kaotic,

I can't give you any recommendations myself, but I would say that the T-Nation forums might be helpful for you. I know they have a pretty active "gear" community over there.

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If you're going to do gear at least do it when you know what you're doing in the gym. If you do then its up to you but personally I don't see why you wanna use gear unless you want to compete.

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@mongo thanks, I'm already reading up.

@gold well I feel like I'm hitting a plateau, It's a bitch finding spotters where I work out, I'm logging any gains I have, my diet is pretty clean and on point (I could obviously eat more). I'd also be doing a light cycle (not super heavy like 50MG).

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So winter is slowly eroding in my part of the world and I'm keen to drop a few % in body fat over the coming months, right now I'd estimate I'm at around 13-14% and I am ideally looking to get down to around 10%.

I've made adjustments to my diet and was also hoping to incorporate some Cardio into my weekly training.

What would be the most effective manner to do this?

Should I do morning cardio on days where I don't do weights training, do HIIT training before or after a weights session, or does it not really matter how I structure my cardio (eg. Add in a few cardio sessions throughout the week)?

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(09-04-2014 12:26 AM)UnW Wrote:  Should I do morning cardio on days where I don't do weights training

I do this. 40 mins on my exercise bike, on rest day mornings before eating.

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kaotic you should ask MikeCF

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Has anyone ever had hip pain from squats? Specifically my left hip joint when I get down to parallel. I think I might need to take a break from squats as much as I want to keep going.. I think it may be a flexibility issue. I really want to push through the pain but I don't want to pay for it in the long term.

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A little bit. I recommend trying some of the Joe DeFranco "Agile 8" mobility drills. Look that up on YouTube.

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